That cornice is one of my favorite in the whole world. TC does have some vid that might help, a bottom view. Bush's side view pics are textbook body position. Here is another good example of body position:

That cornice is one of my favorite in the whole world. TC does have some vid that might help, a bottom view. Bush's side view pics are textbook body position. Here is another good example of body position:

The amazing thing about this picture is that Phil actually took a sip from the gatorade he was holding in his right hand before he hit the snow and didn't spill a drop!!!

HAHA, I think you're right. I had forgotten, but then stumbled on it when I was looking for something else on Youtube about Abasin.
I guess I really am Blonde.

Any way, sitting back was my nemesis and I won't say its completely gone, but the last few times I went off the cornice, I did it successfully gaining air each time.
Geoffda was saying, take it small then graduate up.
Phil said, "Go Bigger"!!!

Cornice

I got great joy doing that for the first time at Mt. Bachelor some 22 years ago. My first cornice drop, not as big but made it. Fortunatly I was told not to lean forward and just point your skis down. It was great but later I tried a cornice drop on a snowmobile and must say “what a rush!” I guess they both compare. I wish we could do that everyday. Some can I guess.

I got great joy doing that for the first time at Mt. Bachelor some 22 years ago. My first cornice drop, not as big but made it. Fortunatly I was told not to lean forward and just point your skis down. It was great but later I tried a cornice drop on a snowmobile and must say “what a rush!” I guess they both compare. I wish we could do that everyday. Some can I guess.

Last weekend on my last day of the season I decided to try to ski right into a cornice at A-Basin, but the landing was unsuccessful. I am looking for some feedback to see what I did wrong and how to approach it next time I try. BTW, I had read some of the old threads about this (very useful) but I want to see specifically what went wrong in my attempt.

A couple of things about the run. When I decided to do it I had previously traversed into it. The snow was soft and the slope flattened out fairly quickly so it seemed like a good place to try it for the first time. Also, it didn't look that big of a cornice from the side, but as I was launching off it the landing seemed REALLY far away, I gotta say I got really freaked out. But it was fun! So now I really wanna learn how to do it properly, even though I'll have to wait 6+ months for the next try.

On the video I notice that I leaned to the right pretty quickly, which I'm guessing was my natural reaction when I got scared at the top. I appreciate all the help I can get.
Simon

Just a couple of pointers from a cornice jumper in NJ.
-make sure your hands are up and in front when you leave the cornice. It gets your body into proper position. A double pole plant doesn't hurt.
Just ski straight off naturally, no prejump or absorbtion or turning.
-If you ski off straight, you'll get maximum air, ski off to the side and you minimize air.
keep your head looking up at the horizon, if you look down, your body will follow by rotating forward.
-wait patiently to feel your skis to touch down, then make your turn.
These tips will get you started on baby cornices with huge open landings like on your video. If your jumping into a chute where it's turn or die, some of the above rules will need to be altered.

Just a couple of pointers from a cornice jumper in NJ.
-make sure your hands are up and in front when you leave the cornice. It gets your body into proper position. A double pole plant doesn't hurt.
Just ski straight off naturally, no prejump or absorbtion or turning.
-If you ski off straight, you'll get maximum air, ski off to the side and you minimize air.
keep your head looking up at the horizon, if you look down, your body will follow by rotating forward.
-wait patiently to feel your skis to touch down, then make your turn.
These tips will get you started on baby cornices with huge open landings like on your video. If your jumping into a chute where it's turn or die, some of the above rules will need to be altered.

allways jump, never be a sack of potaoes, no matter which your jumping allways jump at least a little. Balance is dynamic and you need to move to stay in balance the act of jumping and not just falling will keep you in balance.

Two things: don't try and turn while jumping, just go straight and turn after you land; start small, catch lot's of air off little jumps, bumps and rolls and work your way up.

While it is possible to add a turn in that can start before or during the jump, I would leave that for after you can do it straight on. Start by turning not at all, then after you land, then land with a bit of an edge set, then add a turn start on take off. Don't try to do anything fancy until you get the basics down.

This reminds me of my point #2 "things I learned at the gathering" -- Don't change your mind in mid-air.

I've been doing small cornices the last two years, and I'm still very uneven. It's mostly mental.. I'll hit something several times during the day and then blow up big time on the last try.

Having a short steep-ish landing followed by a flat recovery zone definitely helps. Two other great spots are Whales Tale at Breck (though it tends to get a lot of traffic and may not have a clean landing) and the ridge just to the skiers right of the Alberta lift (from memory-- may be the wrong one) at Wolf Creek.

Having a short steep-ish landing followed by a flat recovery zone definitely helps. Two other great spots are Whales Tale at Breck (though it tends to get a lot of traffic and may not have a clean landing) and the ridge just to the skiers right of the Alberta lift (from memory-- may be the wrong one) at Wolf Creek.

It think you meant skier's right of the Treasure lift at Wolf Creek, that's where that last video was taken. Unless you meant the knife ridge which is steeper and with some bigger overhanging cornices.

Originally Posted by BushwackerinPA
How not to drop a cornice skier 1 who fell

How to drop a cornice skier 2 who stuck it cleaned
this was fairly small drop slightly larger than the one in the video but trust me if you get your body like skier 2 I can pretty much promise you will land something like that.

Hands in front is even more important jumping than when skiing, Look at this guy's body and hand position. He is in the air but could be skiing powder, bumps or ice with that postion. Compact, solid and balanced. The biggest natural fear when skiing is the face plant, and this goes up expotentially when jumping. To overcome that you need to concentrate on weight forward, which is most easily accomplished with your hands forward. This guy's weight might actually be just a touch too far back for the OP's jump, but he is jumping into deep powder and probably anticipating the possible tip dive on landing.

I'd say the biggest problem you had on the first cornice was absorbing it, as you went over it your legs flexed, when to maintain balance, they needed to extend. Then you turned a bit as well, which ended up putting on your side/back. Good job on the second one though, you didn't really pop, you didn't need to anyway, but you stayed strong and it obviously worked.

For confidence on bigger drops get comfortable hitting jumps in the park, so you are used to being in the air. The best thing about park kickers are they are much less variable than natural features, so you can repeat movements and not worry about snow conditions, hitting the same spot etc.